2013.57: Courtesan Eguchi as the Bodhisattva Fugen with a White Elephant

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2013.57

People

Ogawa Haritsu, Japanese (Ise 1663 - 1747)

Title

Courtesan Eguchi as the Bodhisattva Fugen with a White Elephant

Classification

Paintings

Work Type

painting, hanging scroll

Date

18th century

Places

Creation Place: East Asia, Japan

Period

Edo period, 1615-1868

Culture

Japanese

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/211588

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink, color and gold on silk; with artist's signature and seal

Dimensions

painting proper: H. 92.1 x W. 35.7 cm (36 1/4 x 14 1/16 in.)
mounting, inlcuding suspension core and roller ends: H. 181.6 x W. 54.8 cm (71 1/2 x 21 9/16 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• inscription: lower right edge of painting:: Muchū-an Ritsuō kore o egaku
• seal: lower right edge of painting, following signature: square red intaglio artist's seal

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Louis V. Ledoux Collection, New York (by 1948), by descent; to his son L. Pierre Ledoux, New York (1948-2001), by inheritance; to his widow Joan F. Ledoux, New York, (2001-2013), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2013.

Footnotes:
1. Louis V. Ledoux (1880-1948)
2. L. Pierre Ledoux (1912-2001)
3. On long term loan to Harvard Art Museums from 1981 to 2013.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Louis V. Ledoux Collection; Gift of Mrs. L. Pierre Ledoux in memory of her husband

Accession Year

2013

Object Number

2013.57

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

A beautiful woman clothed in a sumptuously decorated blue, white, and gold kimono stands grasping a thin staff in both hands while swirling bands of white clouds trail behind her, gather beneath her feet, and take on the form of a white elephant; beneath these ethereal figures appears an expanse of pale blue waves. The subject of this exquisite painting derives from a fifteenth-century Noh play about a courtesan believed to be a manifestation of Fugen Bosatsu (Sanskrit, Bodhisattva Samantabhadra), a Buddhist deity described in the Lotus Sutra as accompanying the Historical Buddha Shakyamuni and typically depicted in Buddhist art as holding a staff and riding a white elephant. The imagery here is perfectly complemented by a dark blue and white silk mounting painted to echo the swirling clouds and flowing waves in the painted scene. The signature and seal of artist Ogawa Haritsu (1663-1747) appears in the lower right corner of the composition.

Publication History

• Julia Meech, "Louis V. Ledoux: Collector of Japanese Textiles", Impressions, Japanese Art Society of America (Lexington, 2022), No. 43: part one of double issue, pp. 99-128, pp. 107-108, fig. 8

Exhibition History

• Masterworks of Ukiyo-e, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 07/20/1996 - 01/12/1997
• 32Q: 2740 Buddhist II, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/29/2021 - 07/17/2022

Verification Level